This bill aims to improve the fairness of the Texas criminal justice system’s response to defendants’ inability to pay fines and fees in criminal cases, particularly in traffic and city ordinance violations. The bill makes a multitude of changes, but broadly speaking, it requires judges to determine a defendant’s ability to pay fines and costs at sentencing, allows judges to waive or reduce fines and fees, and provides for sentencing alternatives when the defendant is unable to pay fines and fees, and it limits arrests and incarceration for inability to pay fines and fees.

Key Provisions

A judge must ask about the defendant’s ability to pay fines & costs before imposing a fine as a sentence.

If a defendant cannot pay, the judge must offer alternatives like community service, a payment plan, or a waiver (in full or in part) of the amount owed. Traffic citations and other tickets must include information about alternatives to fines and fees available to defendants who are unable to pay.